Aetna Board of Directors Increases Shareholder Dividend and Authorizes Quarterly Payment

HARTFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aetna (NYSE: AET) today announced that its Board of Directors increased the company’s cash dividend to shareholders and moved the company to a quarterly dividend payment cycle. The first quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share was declared on February 3, 2011, and will be paid on April 29, 2011 to all shareholders of record of Aetna common stock as of the close of business on April 14, 2011.

“The increased dividend is in keeping with Aetna’s continuing commitment to enhance total return for our shareholders.”

“The decision to increase the dividend is testimony to the confidence we have in our strategy, our financial profile and our cash flow,” said Ronald A. Williams, chairman. “The increased dividend is in keeping with Aetna’s continuing commitment to enhance total return for our shareholders.”

Declaration and payment of future quarterly dividends is at the discretion of the Board and may be adjusted as business needs or market conditions change. Most recently, the Company paid a $0.04 per share annual dividend on November 30, 2010.

About Aetna

Aetna is one of the nation’s leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 35.4 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and disability plans, and medical management capabilities and health care management services for Medicaid plans. Our customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more information, see www.aetna.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT -- Certain information in this press release is forward-looking, including the timing and amount of any future dividends. Forward-looking information is based on management’s estimates, assumptions and projections, and is subject to significant uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond Aetna’s control. Important risk factors could cause actual future results or other future events to differ materially from those currently estimated by management, particularly changes in Aetna’s future cash requirements, capital requirements, results of operations, financial condition and/or cash flows. For more discussion of important risk factors that may materially affect Aetna, please see the risk factors contained in Aetna’s 2009 Annual Report on Form 10-K (Aetna’s “2009 Annual Report”) and Aetna’s Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2010, June 30, 2010 and September 30, 2010 (Aetna’s “2010 Quarterly Reports”), each on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). You also should read Aetna’s 2009 Annual Report and Aetna’s 2010 Quarterly Reports on file with the SEC and Aetna’s 2010 Annual Report on Form 10-K when filed with the SEC for a discussion of Aetna’s historical results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.